I took some pics of my spare engine today so here's the deal (minus air cleaner assembly and a body in the way).

First pic is the turbo sitting there on the engine - should be more or less exactly the same as yours. As you can see I have the inlet taped up given that it's just sitting there in case I destroy the current engine.

Second shot is a spray can lid covering it. It turns out that there are (at least) a couple of sizes of spray can lids and the one that fits tightly is the smaller one. The one I showed is the bigger one just because I didn't want to pull the tape off - it has some wrinkles that prevent the small one from sliding on. Anyhow, a spray can lid WILL work nicely.

Dan

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Great. Will look tomorrow. Thanks.

Well, after all that it was just a bad stop valve. The one I replaced a year ago was made in India and it lasted only twelve months. After going through all the vac lines and the rubber connectors and agonizing about replacing the vac switch on the steering column (thanks guys for advising me not to do that), all I needed to do was replace the new stop valve.

Thanks for all the advice; I have learned more about the SD including how to pop out the speedometer console and unhook it in about one minute. And now I can hook it back up and replace in about a minute too.

So here's a pic of the SD with the new stop valve. Looks better.

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Dan - what year engine is it that you showed in the picture? Mine is a 1981 and it is a lot different from what you show in the pic.

That's how it looks when you remove the air cleaner.

Sixto
83 300 SD
98 E320 wagon

That's an '84. It looks pretty much identical to the '85 in Mutt. Of course, Mutt's engine looks REALLY different from the factory set-up given the "M" series injection pump and hand made accessories like the air inlet, etc. I suspect that Sixto is right - they look quite different with the air cleaner assembly removed and out of the way.

Dan

OK. Went out and took a shot of mine. See pic below - I did not remove the big plastic tube but you get the idea. If you see the large plastic horseshoe shaped tube which goes to the turbo, the top outlet (which I assume goes to the turbocharger) is very large -- but the bottom of the tube is very small - and that is where the small rattlecan top fits. I see that large outlet in your pic; it is taped over. But I do not see such a small outlet in your engine which points to the front bumper on mine.

You were right about different size of rattlecan tops; did not know that until I inspected my old paint spray cans. I had a large one which probably would have not cut off the air but I found a smaller top which fit the bottom outlet perfectly. Thankfully I did not need it.

I do not see a smaller outlet in your engine. Mine is about four inches below the very large outlet and maybe two or three inches toward the driver's side. \

So obviously MB made some changes/improvements by 1984. However I have been running mine all weekend and, honestly, it runs just as well as it did when I bought it. Wife is going crazy; I told her I would get rid of it as soon as it quit running and that was fifteen years ago. She is still waiting.

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As I look at your pic I'm seeing a smaller convoluted SS tube - that's the EGR line from the exhaust manifold to the intake manifold. Assuming the EGR valve is working OK it's just fine to leave that in place as it reduces oxides of nitrogen (NoX) emissions by reducing combustion chamber temps (it recycles a bit of the exhaust gas back thru the engine). The taped-over orifice in my pic is the turbo inlet (where the bottom leg of your U-shaped tube goes) and the larger thin gage tube at the top right of your pic is the air inlet to the air filter assembly. The inlet air enters that large opening, goes thru the air filter assembly where the inlet air is (as you probably guessed) filtered, then out thru the U-shaped hose and into the turbo inlet. The turbo pressurizes the air then forces the air into the intake manifold (that's the smaller tube out of the turbo going toward the driver's side, more or less horizontal).

Guys, help me out here - shouldn't the air filter inlet have a hose that leads to atmospheric air outside of the engine bay heat? I'm thinking he's missing an inlet tube but I'm sort of obsessed with getting cool air to the engine and I don't know if Mercedes engineers shared my obsession.

The small rubber line going from a canister toward the bottom of the turbo and looping back to the exhaust manifold (EGR base) is the signal to the waste gate which limits the boost of the turbo - you can see that very clearly in my first pic. You CAN have too much boost, especially on a stock engine and M-B wisely decided to modulate this.

Dan

Dan - you are right. I see now that you have a cap over the bottom inlet and this is the small one. But I am confused about where the top of the plastic tube fits on yours. Have you removed something from the engine which would have the inlet for the large top half of the plastic tube?

I think something is missing up top.

The U-shaped tube goes from the air filter outlet to the turbo inlet and the air filter assembly is missing on my engine. I use a different, home brewed system on mine and the seller of the engine kept the filter assembly.

Dan

That makes sense. Thanks again for all the help.

I am good to go again.

Don't think I said that I'm glad that you worked it out and are back on the road. That's a very elegant looking car and it's interesting that it still takes the time to teach you as it continues to roll along.

Dan